Cy Young rankings: Familiar faces take back NL, lefties make noise in AL

Welcome to the second edition of theScore's 2022 Cy Young rankings, where we pick the top five pitchers from each league. Let's take a look at who's making a strong impression as we pass the one-quarter mark of the season.

American League

5. Martin Perez, Rangers

This can't possibly continue, can it? Perez was so awful last year for the Red Sox that he finished the season in the bullpen making low-leverage appearances and didn't even make the playoff roster. He landed a one-year, $4-million deal with the Rangers during spring training almost entirely because the desperate club needed rotation depth. And now the lefty is the only pitcher to have yet to allow a homer through 50 innings pitched and currently possesses the ERA title. He's not missing many bats with a pedestrian 7.03 K/9, but his walk rate is reasonable. Most importantly, though, he's suppressing hard contact with a barrel rate that ranks in the 94th percentile. Can he keep it up, or will bona fide aces like Gerrit Cole or Justin Verlander (who gave up four homers in his last start alone) overtake the surprising vet?

4. Shane McClanahan, Rays

McClanahan's strikeouts are automatic at this point. The young left-hander is punching out the opposition with reckless abandon. His 36.3% strikeout rate not only sits atop the league, but it'd be the sixth-highest single-season mark ever behind 1999 Pedro Martinez (unanimous Cy Young winner), 2001 Randy Johnson (Cy Young winner), 2019 Gerrit Cole (Cy Young runner-up), and the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaigns of Shane Bieber and Jacob deGrom (unanimous Cy Young winner and finalist, respectively). He's still giving up a little too much hard contact, but he seems to be minimizing damage by surrendering only two homers over his last four starts while also ensuring they were only solo dingers by drastically cutting down on walks. The 25-year-old could easily find himself atop this list by year's end.

3. Nestor Cortes Jr., Yankees

An omission from this list through the first month due to a lack of innings, Cortes has continued being the ace the Yankees didn't know they needed and is now a qualified starter. Despite a mystifyingly slow fastball by modern standards, "Nasty Nestor" is keeping hitters off-balance enough to rack up strikeouts against 30.2% of the batters he's faced. Even further, the only guy standing in his way for the ERA title is the aforementioned Perez, and Cortes would've taken it if he finished off a near complete-game shutout against those pesky Rays last week. Thanks to a refined cutter and deceptive lefty delivery, can the former 36th-round pick continue his enigmatic route to success?

2. Tarik Skubal, Tigers

Skubal seemingly came out of nowhere to post a mind-blowing 36.5% strikeout rate over 122 2/3 innings in the minors in 2019. Thanks to that breakout, the southpaw broke camp with the Tigers in the pandemic-shortened 2020 but has hit roadblocks in each of the last two seasons, giving up way too many homers and struggling to miss bats. But everything seems to be coming together now. Maybe the de-juiced ball and Comerica Park are helping him, but that largely doesn't matter because Skubal has been nails. He's limiting walks, leading to the second-best FIP in baseball, and we still haven't fully seen him reach his strikeout ceiling. In what has been a disappointing year for the Tigers, Skubal is more than enough reason to tune in.

1. Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays

It continues to be Gausman's world, and all other pitchers are just throwing in it. He's the only starter with a sub-2.00 FIP, and it's a sterling 1.32. He's the only pitcher with a WAR over 2.0, and it's towering above the competition at 2.7. The lone righty on this list of AL Cy Young hopefuls is averaging less than one homer and/or walk combined over nine innings. That's right, combined. Perhaps most absurd is that Gausman is getting opposing hitters to swing at 49.2% of pitches outside of the strike zone (the next highest is Tyler Anderson at 41%). Nearly half of Gausman's offerings outside the zone look so good to hitters that they simply must swing at them. When the catcher sets up for a pitch to expand the zone for Gausman, it's a coinflip whether the batter will hit it weakly or swing and miss. It's domination at this point, and it's his award to lose as we near the one-third mark of the campaign.

National League

5. MacKenzie Gore, Padres

A host of others could've gone in this fifth spot, with Walker Buehler, Logan Webb, Zac Gallen, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Kyle Wright, Carlos Carrasco, Pablo Lopez, Aaron Nola, Max Scherzer, and even Josh Hader all forming compelling cases. However, we're going to go with the rookie phenom who, despite not yet being qualified, ranks higher in WAR than all of those guys, except Fried. Narrowly not qualifying as a starting pitcher, Gore would have sole possession of ERA and FIP titles with six more innings and could conceivably earn both in his next start. The young lefty had a phenomenal spring and hasn't surrendered a single homer since making his debut on April 15. Over his last three outings, including two starts, Gore has allowed one run on eight hits and five walks while striking out 19 in 16 innings pitched. He's finally arrived.

4. Sandy Alcantara, Marlins

If the Marlins are to be considered in the hunt at this point, almost all credit is owed to Alcantara. He's not dominating by strikeouts, but that's not a bad thing in his case. The former All-Star has had to be efficient to lead MLB in innings pitched with the third-best ERA in the Senior Circuit. Currently, Alcantara might be the closest thing to a throwback that MLB can offer, with his three most recent outings lasting eight innings or more and five of his last eight going at least seven frames. Despite that, the Marlins aren't being too reckless with his pitch count, keeping him below 110 pitches in every start this year except for one - his complete-game shutout against the Braves. Over his last three starts, he's featuring a 71% strike rate, and opposing batters managed just three extra-base hits (all doubles). If Alcantara's most recent start - in which he notched double-digit strikeouts for the first time this year, punching out 14 Braves - is any indication, the best might be yet to come.

3. Zack Wheeler, Phillies

According to some, Wheeler was robbed of the award last year. But losing to Corbin Burnes despite leading the NL in innings pitched and strikeouts has only seemed to make the former All-Star hungrier. Wheeler isn't the best at any one specific thing, but he makes up for that by being unbelievably great at all things. According to Baseball Savant, the 32-year-old is at least 74th percentile in hard-hit rate, barrel rate, walk rate, expected wOBA, expected ERA, expected slugging, strikeout rate, chase rate, and fastball velocity. His actual 3.16 ERA is rather pedestrian by 2022 standards, which so far features 22 qualified starters with sub-3.00 ERAs. But the underlying numbers - including his NL-best 2.38 FIP - suggest he'll hang around the Cy Young race all year long.

2. Joe Musgrove, Padres

Musgrove made headlines last year by becoming the first pitcher in Padres history to throw a no-hitter. That early-season April outing was the platform to authoring an impressive first half, boasting a 2.93 ERA over his first 98 1/3 innings. He regressed down the stretch, though, and ultimately finished outside the Cy Young race. Now, Musgrove's 1.86 ERA is the best in the NL, and he's still undefeated at 5-0. Can he prove that the rigors of an entire season aren't too much for him this time around? He's certainly taken the reins as the Padres' ace and is being more efficient, reducing his strikeouts to also limit walks and homers. Is this a recipe for success for the 29-year-old?

1. Corbin Burnes, Brewers

The reigning champ gets the ever-so-slight edge over Musgrove. What's most mystifying about Burnes' dominance this season is that he's suddenly giving up homers again - in a season with very few homers thanks to the deadened ball. In fact, in Burnes' Cy Young-winning campaign last year, he surrendered seven homers over 167 innings. This year, he's already given up eight through 64 2/3. It's not really impacting his stats, though. His 1.95 ERA is second-best in the NL, his 31.8% strikeout rate is down somewhat but still elite, and his 4.5% walk rate is immaculate. In fact, his walk rate is even better than last year, when he started the season with 56 Ks before registering a single walk. He's allowed just one run over his last 13 innings while punching out 16.